Applicant claims priority of provisional patent application 60/681,331 filed May 13, 2005, provisional patent application 60/684,662 filed May 25, 2005, and 60/692,693 filed Jun. 20, 2005.
One of the (many) difficulties in traveling with infants and young children, is keeping them entertained. If the child is hungry or thirsty, often a bottle or sippy cup will serve to provide the parent(s) a brief respite from the vocal displeasure of a cranky passenger. All too often, however, the solution to the crabbiness problem becomes, instead, a problem in itself. The baby repeatedly drops the drink/liquid-food container requiring the non-driving parent to unfasten their seat belt and lean over the seat-back to gain access to the container which is, doubtlessly, rolling around on the floor in the least reachable location possible. This procedure is both aggravating and difficult for even the most well-conditioned parent, as well as a distraction to the driver. Should there be only a single adult in the vehicle, the maneuver, to be properly and safely done, requires stopping the vehicle by the roadside to afford the driver free hands to access the drink container. Depending on the traffic flow and neighborhood of the mishap, this technique may not be all that safe, either. An equally aggravating, if generally safer, time awaits the parent pushing a stroller through the mall with the added complication that the dropped container may go undetected for a number of stores.
Several attempts at dealing with this situation have appeared in the patent literature. Some of these developments ease the parent's difficulty of locating the container: they need merely follow the string which is tied to the car seat to its end and, voila!, there's the baby's bottle. However, the retrieval still requires the non-driving parent (if any) to unfasten their seat belt and rummage around in the back seat to restore the drink container to the child. Another problem which arises with some of the available bottle suspenders is that the shoulder strap connections and the bottle attachments can both be tampered with. When the child has drunk her/his fill and is looking for an alternate form of entertainment, these disconnectable devices provide an all-too-ready “toy”, defeating this supposed solution to the “bottle drop” problem.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a bottle/beverage container leash which maintains the bottle within easy reach of the child. This has two principle advantages: 1) it enables the child to develop her/his own manual dexterity skills and, 2) it preserves the sanity and cheery disposition of the parent. This is accomplished by having a short (on the order of 3-5 inches) leash which attaches to the seat belt harness or shoulder strap of a stroller in the area of the child's chest region. This keeps the container within easy reach should the elusive bottle slip from her/his grasp. In addition, the securement means attaching the leash to the shoulder strap and the latching means attaching the leash to the bottle are fail-safe: each of them has a back-up, at least one of which is not easily manipulated by the child.
The leash system of the present invention includes a) a strap having a first and second end; b) a first attachment band secured to the first end of the strap for suspending the leash system from a shoulder strap of a seatbelt harness, or the like, the attachment band having a first and a second securement means for suspending the leash from the shoulder strap; c) a second attachment band secured to said second end of the strap for securely attaching to the child's drink container, the second attachment band having first and second latching means for securing the attachment band to the child's drink container; whereby the first and second securement means and the first and second latching means provide a fail-safe leash system for maintaining the child's drink container within reach of a thirsty child. Preferably, the second securement means protects the first securement means from being tampered with. In addition, the second securement means preferably comprises a padded fabric band to ensure the child's comfort.
The first securement means most preferably comprises a clip which attaches to the shoulder strap and the fabric band of the second securement means wraps around the clip. Virtually any type of clip can be used including suspender clips, buckles, key rings, glides, slides, D-rings, hook buckles, snap hook Arabia belt buckles, side release clips, center release clips, camp locks, binder clips, belt buckles, snaps, buttons, zippers, alligator clips, and any other type of clip. The fabric band of the second securement means is retained in a wrapped position by first and second portions of hook-and-loop (VELCRO) fabric. The clip is preferably selected from a group consisting of an alligator clip, a snap, a button, and a suspender clip, with the latter having been found to be most successful in keeping the child from tampering with it, even if she/he succeeds in opening the fabric band. The clip is sewn inside the fabric band to avoid its being misplaced. An optional feature of the bottle leash of the present invention is that the strap has an adjustable length.
The first latching means comprises a width of fabric whose length can be adjusted to accommodate different diameter containers. The length-adjustable fastening means comprises third and fourth portions of hook-and-loop fabric. The length of these third and fourth portions of fabric are longer than necessary to accomplish the attachment providing significant adjustability. The second latching means comprises a two-part, snap-together buckle, a first part secured to a distal end of a first strap and a second part secured to a distal end of a second strap, the first and second straps overlying and being attached to the width of fabric constituting the first latching means. Most preferably, a length B of the first latching means is not exceed by a length A of the strap. This ensures that the bottle is maintained with the ready reach of the child.
Various other features, advantages, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent after a reading of the following detailed description.